Cargo Business Newswire

Monday, May 16, 2016

Cosco Pacific to buy stake in Hutchison's Euromax terminal in Rotterdam

China's Cosco Pacific will pay $143 million for a stake in a container-terminal operator in Rotterdam amid an overseas expansion driven by Chinese companies.

Cosco Pacific will buy 35 percent of Euromax Terminal Rotterdam BV for $47 million and assume $95 million of debt equivalent to 35 percent of a loan, the Chinese company said in a statement last week. Euromax is indirectly owned by Hutchison Port Holdings, which in turn is owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.

The move will help Cosco Pacific, the terminal operator of China's biggest shipping company, to expand its operations overseas, the company said.

China has undertaken a so-called "One Belt, One Road" initiative, a $40 billion strategy that aims to strengthen economic and transport ties across Eurasia.

China Cosco Shipping Corp., the country's biggest shipping company, makes calls to Rotterdam, Europe's busiest container port. The Euromax terminal will see its handling capacity increased to 3.2 million TEUs when the second phase of expansion is completed from the current 2.55 million, according to the statement. About 2.28 million boxes were processed in 2015.

For more of the Bloomberg story: www.bloomberg.com